Agricultural information delivery mechanism using ICT: A case study from Kerala, India

Kisan Call Centre is a service by Government of India aimed at providing agriculture related information to the farming community through a toll free number, 1800-180-1551. The Call Center´s objective is to address the need of the farming community, using ICT, professional help and thus providing information at the farmer´s doorstep, through this toll free telephone number. The study was conducted to assess the awareness of farmers about Kisan Call Centre, to analyze the extent of utilization, and to elicit constraints experienced by the farmers in using the services of the Centre. The study revealed that only 14% of the farmers were aware of the Kisan Call Centre. Among the users (farmers) of the Centre, 73 per cent came to know about the Call Centre through different media such as newspaper (30%), radio (23%) and television (20%), while 23 per cent knew about the services of the Centre through the local agricultural extension worker. Ninety per cent of the farmers used the Call Center service more than once, with 30 per cent of them four times or more. Most of the farmers contacted the Centre to get information on plant protection (34.44%) followed by crop cultivation (26.67%). Majority of the farmers who used the Call Centre were satisfied with the service. However, the farmers experienced problems in getting connected to the Call Centre. The farmers demanded for alternate solutions as well as for field service following the advisory services.